Prince Spaghetti Day sans words

invitation only!

Rose has been with us for over two years now and I so rarely get to touch her. She remains very skittish and chooses to keep a lot of distance with the humans. I consider it a good day when she occasionally invites me to touch her. On those occasions, she's split, she clearly wants to be petted but her fear is high - I'm learning how to prolong the loves with slow movements, no eye-contact and always following her cue. If her fear starts to overtake the pleasure, I stop and slowly move away.

Rose really loves being brushed but it's very hard to ever get near her with the brush as she spooks as soon as she sees it. When she allows it, she leans into the brush and soaks it up.

Imagine my surprise recently, when while cautiously petting her on the ottoman in front of the fire, she flopped over to have her tummy rubbed! I couldn't believe it! I still can't believe it!! Over the years she's watched all the other cats get their tummy's rubbed and now she just had to try it for herself. She must have liked it because two days later she wanted her tummy rubbed again!

Rose has a serious case of the cutes for sure. Her fear is slowly losing out to her enjoyment of being touched. Hopefully in another few years she will be a cuddle bug! Ok, it might take more than a few years for that but I'm holding out hope.

I'll keep taking it slow, while always watching out for her subtle invitations for love.

the sun returns

We almost made it through a year with no snow. Then Friday came.

Morning:

March 22, 2013 7:46 am
(thanks to Theo for the photobomb!)

 Late afternoon:

March 22, 2013 6:08 pm

In the end we had only a few inches of snow and most of it was melted by evening.

morning of March 22, 2013

morning of March 25, 2013

The cats so love the sun!

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are today!

the heist

ho hum, just watching the world go round and round...

Secret Agent Oliver

No, that would be just Mr. Oliver, thank you.

Just out for a stroll on the rooftop, dah dee dah...

nothing to see here...

oh hello Mr. Buddy...

What?? Speak up Buddy, I can't hear you,

the nip motherlode is comin when???

Buddy: After nightfall, through the backdoor - got it?

"We've been compromised! You were followed you moron"

Ack! What you looking at?!?!

Nahum: So, how's the family?

Nahum: You guys like to play feather toy and string?

]

Well, off to do my cat thing...

Meanwhile out from the shadows lurks another suspicious cat...

Ok, here's the deal Pierre - da nip's coming around the back after dark, 

go tell the rest of the family to be ready

What you looking at? You gotta problem mister?

You better scram or I'm gonna work you over with this pine cone and my cutes!!

Pierre

Pierre has been hanging around more and more.

 Like father,

Oliver

Like son.

Pierre

I've noticed lately that somedays Pierre has been sleeping away in Oliver's heated house. Oliver doesn't seem to mind, in fact the other day they both shared the space together.

I love seeing Pierre hang around during the day more. And notice his tail, straight up in the air, like he owns the place!

Over the weekend while I was working out in the garage, Pierre popped in, looked at me and then started exploring inside. He didn't seem freaked that I was there as he checked out the new environment.

I'm still hoping that someday this year I'll get to give Pierre some tummy rubs!

Mr Hershey gets a tower!

I recently heard from Mike, Hershey's new human. It sounds like everything is going quite wonderfully!! Hershey has a new cat tower that he just LOVES!!

Along with the pictures, here's the update Mike sent:

Hershey loves his cat tower, keeping an eye on the neighborhood is one of his new hobbies. I leave the blinds open for him in the morning so he can sit up there all day to his heart's content and watch. On President's Day I had the day off and there was a bird of prey flying around our neighborhood and he was absolutely transfixed by that, he spent all afternoon in that window staring out. When I come home, if I stand at the right place in the parking lot I can see into that window,and he's always up in that tower now when I come home. Otherwise he's just looking to socialize and play after I get home and being a great cat and my best friend! Unfortunately I don't have a good play photo since he's so active and feisty he doesn't stay still!

Yea!! I'm so happy for Hershey and Mike - glad they found each other!

motoring

Oliver has quite the purr when he's completely relaxed. Here's a short sample.

Enjoy.

Oliver is a very clever cat. He recently has learned to open the front porch screen door by pushing against it. We place an old shoe and rug against the door to keep it from opening easily but those things are no match for a determined Oliver.

Once he gains access, the door closes behind him and he's trapped until I let him back out. There are days when I come home from work to find Oliver camped out on the front porch.

I'm still working on a fix to this. We have the ability to latch the door to secure it but the problem is the mailbox is on the inside of the porch, so the door must be unlatched during the day so the post-person can deliver the mail.